Safe Speed Forums

When all's quiet in the snug and the landlord rings his bell and shouts "Time Gentlemen .. and on you way to the car park - do check your breath... "

A good idea?

Apparently this gadget is appearing in the cafes and bars across France and spreading to Swiss Alps and beyond..

.Auto Express carried the story some issues ago and readers have commented in this week's issue.

Reactions are varied - one gives hearty applause... another thinks it a way forward but wonders if people will take it seriously and not risk a drive if the bulbs flash red and start flashing ....

Another reader thinks the chaves will see this as a "who turns it red fastest contest" whilst the final contributor acknowledges this is a step forward in making people aware of what they are drinking and how it may be affecting them.. but ponders about enforcement..after all a policeman is not jumping out of this gadget and grabbing car keys...and it does rely on our own common sense to heed the warning.

And therein lies part of the culture and attitude difference maybe... the French and Swiss do appear to use taxis if the red light appears...but then they do have visible police and part of France's current strategy has been to double its Traffic Officers....and they are specifically targetting drink and non wearing of seat belts.

So - to debate here ... and maybe it should be a poll? But is there any merit in this gaadget being available down out local boozers?

I would say "yes" for our sensible majority who would take heed of the warnings....

Chavs ... ? Suspect some may be too drunk to notice it anyway...

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One of my collegues keeps a personall breathaliser in his pocket, he already has 2 DD's so uses this to drink up to the limit before driving.

I think there is a deeper problem here that electronics cant fix.

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Nick

Personally, I think it's a horrible idea - it only takes one person who feels too drunk to drive, but then gets the green light on the device to undo any beneficial effects they may have.

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Carl Prescott

not a good idea for the same reason the police won't give you a test if you ask them. Your blood alcohol level will go up for a while after you stop drinking. The only safe thing to do is not drive if you're planning on drinking. Attempting to push the limit is just insane.

So there would have to be a big sign telling people only to use the breathalyser 30 minutes (or whatever) after their last drink. As long as this was done, I don't see any problem with this idea.

If a friend offers me a lift home from the pub, I could insist that he test himself before I get in the car with him. It may not affect what he does, but it would save me from risking my life.

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“For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.” - H. L. Mencken

so you'd get into a car with someone who's just blown marginally below the (rather high compared to other countries) legal limit?

Yes - that's the issue that's been niggling away at me since this thread started. So here's the real problem:

The LAST thing we should be doing is making the drink drive limit a target.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Maybe pub car-parks should have a barrier though - and for the barrier to open you have to blow into a breathlyser near the gate and then it will open for you only if you are under the limit.

A pub can choose (as it's private property and they set the rules) to set their limit lower than the legal limit. (There would obviously be clear signs on entering stating that you must agree to those conditions). And there would be a "no clamp" guarantee on cars left overnight where the driver was too drunk (although there may be a reasonably small fee).

Of course, patrons may choose to park outside the pub and not use the car-park but then we can't control everything.

you mean like asking a <more> sober person to blow open the gate for them?

In fact you might even get <losers> standing around offering to blow for £10. Horrible, horrible, horrible.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Since pubs do not have a monopoly on drink-driving, obviously you would have to extend the same control to car parks belonging to every other establishment that serves alcohol - restaurants, sports clubs, leisure centres, theatres etc. I'm sure the contribution to road safety would be appreciated by the 99%+ of law abiding car park users.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

The place for any breathalyser control is actually in the car.

You would be somewhat upset when it goes wrong and won't let you drive sober.

But Mad Moggie's question was 'is it a good idea in the pub as a self regulating device?' And then answered his own question by saying it would work for the sensible people who don't drink and drive anyway.

Those who do drink and drive would soon find a way around it.

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Shooting is good for you and too good for some people.

With drink you cannot multi task - it's either have a drink and not drive or drive and not drink-can you say for certain that you are not affected by one drink -because it's you're own judgement you're using and it could be affected by that one drink.

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Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Of course a legitimate purpose for self-test breathalysers is on the "morning after".

By this time the alcohol level will be falling rather than rising and, because of the "Mellanby Effect", any impairment will have worn off some time before the alcohol level has dropped.

I see no safety concerns with that - and I suspect a large majority of the drink-driving offences that actually happen, as opposed to those that are detected, occur on the morning after.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

That is very interesting. So there is a difference between alcohol level and impairment?
Does that mean the impairment drops off faster than the alcohol level falls?

So if you got two readings one in the evening just after drinking and one in the morning at some point they could be the same level of alcohol but the actuall effect on performance is different.

I am off to investigate that, I have long suspected something similar.

Thanks Peter.

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Shooting is good for you and too good for some people.

Yes, googling for "Mellanby Effect" will find plenty of references, for example:

http://www.criminal-lawyer.on.ca/alcohol-5.html

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Thanks for that Peter.

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Shooting is good for you and too good for some people.

Totally agree with that -pete - you could feel ok next day/be ok next day, but have enough in you to get done , and that thought is frightiening.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on